Review: Oialla Chocolate

The small, neat, square, matte white cardboard box with the stylishly confident Oialla ‘signature’ across the lid evokes the elegant packaging of high-end cosmetics. The words ‘Chocolato Criollo Puro y silvestre’ (Criollo chocolate pure and wild) are the verbal clue as to the box’s actual contents.

Inside, the neatly folded information sheet unfolds to offer an attractively illustrated insight into the work that’s gone into creating Oialla. Danish chef Rasmus Bo Bojesen is the man who has created this chocolate, sourcing his chocolate from wild cocoa trees growing in the remote Amazon jungle in Bolivia. As the notes explain, this is indeed ‘pure’ chocolate in the sense that it is made only from cocoa beans and sugar, so without any lecithin or vanilla.

Below the information sheet, nestling neatly in the box, are ten sealed, creamy-white sachets, each of which opens to reveal a 3cm by 3cm square of glossy dark chocolate, neatly incised with a graphic pattern and with a definite and inviting chocolate aroma. Each square is thick enough to require that one bites down firmly into it, producing a satisfying snap of the chocolate as you do so.

Once in the mouth, the chocolate melts smoothly and rapidly, releasing a strong yet mellow chocolate flavour which fills the mouth and lingers on . . . and on for many minutes, with a very slight tingle right towards the end of the finish.

Despite its dainty appearance, this is chocolate which packs a punch, delivering indeed the ‘pure’ chocolate experience promised on the lid. Chocolate, in short, as elegant and sophisticated as its packaging.

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